US extended reality (XR) meditation app developers TRIPP recently debuted its popular digital wellness solution as an AR and 5G application.
TRIPP began as a virtual reality (VR) app for Oculus Quest and Playstation VR headsets, but the AR port will debut for Nreal smartglasses later this year.
The developments follow the wellness firm participating in the Deutsche Telekom’s Hubraum Mixed Reality Programme to support developers in creating AR applications specifically for Nreal hardware.
TRIPP also participated in T-Mobile’s 2021 Fall Wellness Accelerator Programme with five other firms to promote the adoption of 5G-empowered wellness apps.
Inside TRIPP
XR Today spoke with Mani Srinivasan, Chief Business Officer, to discuss his company’s transformation to an AR and 5G-capable wellness solution.
XR Today: How is progress going at TRIPP?
Mani Srinivasan: There has been a lot of tangible progress, and we’re approaching 3 million sessions in VR, so [there’s] a lot of momentum, making us the largest XR wellness solution in the market.
A lot of the feedback that we got, during the pandemic, has been super motivating for the team. We’ve actually found a lot of reception for men. I think that’s an important point from the mental health perspective because of the stigma associated with seeking support.
A lot of folks inside Facebook and Oculus didn’t think we were going to appeal to men and in turn thought that we would have a very small adoption curve.
It was very much the opposite and the exciting thing is, within the Oculus and PlayStation VR universes, we’re seeing more whole household adoption which is encouraging and makes TRIPP more valuable.
When you look at VR, it is an incredible container to create psychological safety that can help people connect more deeply to self.
From that place of connection to self, there’s the ability to shift to a more positive mindset and you should know with TRIPP, we’ve got a conservative approach. So until we have a really solid body of evidence, we certainly aren’t going to make any claims.
But we’ve got more than six active clinical trials in place right now with reputable research teams in categories, including addiction, depression and anxiety reduction all around the world, in Europe, in the US, and the early results are really promising.
In the category of addiction, coming out of a sizable grant from NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse), we’re now at phase two, approaching double-blind RCTs (randomized control trials).
So if you look ahead in the future for TRIPP, there’s absolutely a growth opportunity in the arena of digital therapeutics.
We remain really focused and a lot of it is in the strength of our team, the emerging devices landscape, cross platform delivery, and then offering products that people are really interested in.
We’ve got our largest monthly active cohort, which is at about 50 percent of our base, using TRIPP VR for four months or more. That’s something we’re really proud of, because historically, the VR sector just hasn’t seen that type of retention.
XR Today: AR marketing teams and brands using AR are seeing a massive increase in customer engagement and retention, so I think it speaks wonders for the technology.
Mani Srinivasan: We were recommended by Qualcomm and a few other key players in the arena to participate with Deutsche Telekom.
That ran over the course of several months, and we came out with probably the most launch-ready offering amongst participants on the shortlist. It’s been delightful that several weeks ago, we were asked by the team at T-Mobile to participate in a wellness accelerator.
Coming out of all of this, we have launched our very first AR offering, TRIPP on Nreal, and we’ve done that in Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, Spain, and South Korea.
It’s a free offering to help promote adoption. Think of it as a freemium model and we will, in as little as six months, but more likely 12 months, begin to offer a paid premium on Nreal as we’re developing for other devices.
Our approach is grounded in the fact that we’re a cutting-edge technology singularly focused on supporting people’s well-being and transformation
We’re seeing a natural movement, from the hand to the head. We’re seeing this before our eyes and it’s only accelerating our service vision at TRIPP for XR mobile delivery and unification.
We refer to this as ‘Reality Layering’ and this is this is something that we feel sets us apart.
So we’re delivering TRIPP from this point forward in a reality-layered way throughout someone’s day, via VR, AR, and mobile, enabling someone to context switch in an integrated fashion.
XR Today: Is there interest in developing something more towards eye-tracking?
Mani Srinivasan: We’re thinking about that stuff, with newer business segment focuses. I want to make sure I’ve articulated that our biggest emphasis now is on our core consumer business.
But, we did do a small acquisition recently of a [stress management and mental health digital solution provider] company called PhysAssist and we are going to be providing support in the area of mental health, a little bit more concertedly and potentially even with respect to psychedelic assisted therapy, beginning with ketamine.
The neat thing about eye-tracking is in the sensors. The Pico Neo Eye 2 is a current market device and later this month, Pico will be shipping the Neo Eye 3 Pro. You should check those devices out if you haven’t as the specs are great!
TRIPP, very much intends to leverage this and correlating technologies in ways that are going to extend our our capabilities.
XR Today: What about 5G? Is there any inclusion of that?
Mani Srinivasan: I’m so glad you asked. So, we’re literally geeking out with the team at T-Mobile now, and it’s a cross-functional group of leaders over there, from marketing to engineering. It’s definitely got more of a technical bent and we’re just so appreciative of the ability to interact with them.
So, with edge computing, we’re going to be able to shift the processing to the cloud, rather than remain limited by what’s available on the device.
We see that as an opportunity to deliver increasingly rich experiences to lightweight devices and that’s beginning with Nreal.
But, we’re already looking ahead with T-Mobile and others to that point where 5G is broadly deployed.
We see that tremendous amount of innovation and we’re getting ready for that transition, so the question is, well, what does that look like?
What it looks like is very low latency connections from the headset to the cloud, and when you’ve got that in place, it’s going to unlock the ability for greater personalization and higher quality of service.
XR Today: Sounds like TRIPP is becoming a supported MR Solution, just from the XR capabilities.
Mani Srinivasan: Right, we took a different approach rather than sticking you on a beach and saying, just relax. We said, hey, let’s put people in an immersive environment that stimulates the mind and heart rather than attempting to simulate the real world.
But with AR, now our objective is to expand, create experiences that change the way you see and interact with the world around you, and help uncover the magic in the mundane.
The powerful thing about AR and in MR is that for us, and players to succeed, it’s not going to be about sticking a 3D animated object in front of someone.
Instead, what we’re doing and saying is, “hey, what would it be like to open up a mini cosmic portal?” While you’re seated in your living room chair, or at a cafe waiting for a friend, at the same time we want to present many games, breathers, and shorter meditations.
But we’re really, really keen on the the impact on perception and you’re going to see us experiment with spatial audio and haptics in novel ways that will bring about this deeper, more unique connection with your environment.
We want people to be supported in their day-to-day, while they might be in the midst of caring for a child or taking care of their dog.
XR Today: Would that be stimulating people emotionally? And could you break that down a little bit for us?
Mani Srinivasan: I absolutely do believe that we can shift people emotionally and over time, there’s going to be ways as the device ecosystem continues to evolve, to measure better eye-tracking, connecting biometric inputs, even just starting with heart rate variability. These are all things that we’re taking into consideration as we evolve the product roadmap.
But imagine, in a VR or AR experience, being able to stimulate someone in the same way that they might be stimulated when they’re hugged by a loved one?
These are the kinds of things we’re thinking about: feeling supported, safe, and nurtured.
XR Today: I like your focus on the heart, on emotion, and human connection, it needs to be looked into and researched. So we don’t create a new form of uncanny valley with this technology?
Mani Srinivasan: I’m so glad you brought it up, and that’s why we didn’t want to just put you atop a simulated mountain, because the brain realises that’s happening, maybe not the very first time you’re in the landscape, but soon after that it does.
The thing that we’re probably most inspired by is we’ve done a very effective job of helping people find that deeper connection to self, partly because we’re putting them in experiences that they can’t get in real life.
But with AR, we’re exploring ways that will ultimately drive deeper connection to others in community.
That’s something when you dig into Zuckerberg’s perspective on the Metaverse and others that are jumping in and pontificating, this is something we want to be a part of, rising to the top of the nature of connection in these new environments.
So you’re going to see in the coming weeks and months some really exciting stuff that we’re going to do that would, we hope, bring to fruition the promise of touchpoints with community.
